Blue Truck, Red State: Killer Cops

Thursday, June 11, 2020

Killer Cops - The Why and the How

Well, this explains everything.

I have found a couple of horrifying videos that confirm what I have suspected for some years now: the police have been systematically trained to kill as an automatic response, without hesitation and without remorse: human killing machines. And they have been loaded up with tons of military gear just like soldiers going into battle. No wonder all these simple traffic stops and sidewalk arrests result in cold-blooded murder of civilians. No wonder.

And has there ever been one single city, county, or state official or administrator, not a law enforcement officer, who reviewed these brainwashing practices and said, "Oh no, this is so wrong, we can't have this"--? And if not, WHY NOT?

A policeman is not an executioner. This is so simple and so obvious, it shouldn't even need to be said. And further I will say, without consulting any lawbooks, that from the moment an arrest is made, the police have a bounden duty to protect that suspect and deliver him safely - and alive - into the hands of the justice system. No other interpretation of their duty is possible - unless the "rule of law" is merely an empty phrase.

The videos that follow go to the heart of what is catastrophically wrong with the police forces in this country. I'm sure there are still plenty of good cops doing the necessary work they were hired to do - and it is imperative that they be recognized and rewarded and encouraged in a dangerous, difficult, but honorable profession. The bad ones must be expelled or reprogrammed, starting right now.

It's late at night as I post this, so I will skip further commentary and just put these videos out here for everyone to see - and I hope every citizen of the United States does.

The Police Trainer Who Teaches Cops to Kill (2017), from the New Yorker:

Trailer for Do Not Resist (2016), independent film by Craig Atkinson:

It all makes sense now - and what a ghastly picture it is - the utter perversion of the duty to "protect and serve."

How George Floyd Was Killed in Police Custody (June 1, 2020), from the New York Times, brings together films of the murder from several vantage points:

Thank God for Darnella Frazier and her courage - MSNBC report (May 30, 2020) on the teenager who stood her ground and filmed the murder for all the world to see:

3 comments:

Frank said...: Extremely disturbing videos. I have some disjointed thoughts:
- Are there some personality traits or psycho-pathology among some trigger-happy cops? (some who get their jollies from dominating and hurting anyone they perceive as questioning their "authority"?)
- What part has the gun culture played in the escalation of violence in our society? "good guys with guns"
- Drug dealers and others engaged criminal activity are often armed with military weapons and it seems many cops are in constant fear of their own lives.
- so called law-abiding citizens can own assault weapons
- Police automatically conclude that every person pulled over for traffic violation or person running (if a black person) is potentially their mortal enemy.
- TV shows glorify police violence and SWAT teams raiding criminals...making the viewers feel "safe" because the cops are always getting the bad guys.; June 11, 2020 at 7:53 AM
Davis said...: Law enforcement has become law unto itself. It's said we live in a "service economy" yet actual service is eschewed in favor of complete individualism - every man for himself. In this case heavily armed.; June 11, 2020 at 12:56 PM
Russ Manley said...: Frank and Davis - Yes, yes, yes to all the above. We are in an awful situation now for all those reasons you mentioned, and more besides, stretching back through the 20th century. If I can ever find a certain movie promo from the 1960s and a certain magazine article again, I may do a post sometime on the antecedents of the present state of things.

In one of the videos I posted last week, I think, a former high government man said that when they review other countries for potential dangers, that when they see a country with a ranting demagogue as its leader, police forces militarized and running roughshod over civil liberties, and the country awash with guns in private hands - they consider that an "unstable regime" highly likely to blow up or collapse.

America today is such a country.

As I said in my reply to Frank's comment on my June 9th post, for some years I have despaired of the state of the country and the world, which is not at all to my taste. Despite certain pleasant conveniences, I do not like this ugly, vulgar, brutal century one bit.

But though I am quite out of tune with the times, and fear that things will get very much worse at all levels before they get better - if ever - I just cannot be a witness to cold-blooded murder and not speak out against it. Execution-by-cop is not, cannot, can never be a part of the America I love.

Police reform and gun control are just the first beginnings of the change that is necessary to preserve America the Good - that America which is not so much a matter of geography as it is a state of mind and heart in all decent men and women down through the centuries - the rule of law, equal justice, Liberty Enlightening the World, and all that. And more and better reforms must follow if we are to save what is worth saving, worth fighting for, worth living for.; June 14, 2020 at 3:10 PM